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[TD]“Where had You been, Swami?” we asked Him, when He sat up and leaned back, on the wall. He answered, with a smile, as if He was not at all tired or exhausted after the twenty-minute-absence from the body. “Oh! I had been to Dehra Dun!”
We were astonished! We asked Him what was the urgency for the visit, what was the calamity which had to be averted, who was the Bhakta involved, etc. He said that it was not a ‘calamity’ this time, but it was a dying person to whom He had to give His Darshan, at the time of death. “That was why you saw Vibhuti issue from My mouth. When I give Darshan to a dying person, that happens. Remember this.”
We searched our memories for the name and address of the Dehra Dun devotee but, we could not recall any one’s name. Then Baba Himself volunteered the information. He said, “Don’t you remember Dr. Krishna, the Lady Medical Officer from Vellore, who comes here often? It was her mother who passed away ten minutes ago, at Dehra Dun.” And, He was speaking to three of us, in His room at the Prasanthi Nilayam at Puttaparthi, on 15th November 1958, at 5:40 P.M.!
At 5:20 P.M. that day, while Baba was reading out a letter He suddenly shouted, “Ha!” as if He was answering some one calling Him from afar and He fell on the floor, as if He had thrown His body and left it in a trice, on a journey! There were two more in the room, besides myself and, we watched over Him helplessly, praying to Him, for what could we do other than that? At 5:30, Baba coughed thrice and there gushed from His mouth the sacred Vibhuti. We wondered what it could mean. Ten minutes later, He came back and sat up. It was then that we ventured to ask Him, “Where had You been, Swami?”
We knew Dr. Krishna and had seen her at Puttaparthi and at Delhi, when Baba visited the home of the Doctor. When Baba was at Rishikesh, the mother had come down to the place and she had even the unique satisfaction of worshipping Baba. And, so we were glad that the mother was privileged to have the Darshan of the Lord, during her last moments.
Baba told us, in answer to our questions, that Dr. Krishna was at her bedside at Dehra Dun, that she was actually there at the time He left, holding the pulse and that it was quiet and a happy death. He said that all the nearest and dearest were around the bed. “She was very pious lady and she got the death she deserved,” He said. “They are doing Bhajan in that room! The atmosphere is so pure and holy,” He announced. Surely, we thought, that was why Baba blessed the soul.
We were all indeed lucky that we could witness this Manifestation of the Divine Mystery, for as Baba has often said, “Only the Lord can discern the exact moment of the liberation of a soul.”
The 15th of November was a Saturday. On Tuesday, the 18th, the post brought an Inland Letter from Dehra Dun, which Baba gave me to read and when it was opened, lo, it was from Dr. Krishna herself! She had posted it on Sunday, with extra stamps and it had to come fast and flying to Baba’s Hands.
“My mother drew her last breath,” it said, “at 5:30 P.M. yesterday.” Dr. Krishna had also written that they were doing Bhajan in the room for some time and that her mother was praying to Baba during her last moments. She concluded her letter thus, “I guess she had Your Darshan.”
She guessed fifteen hundred miles away! And we were told by Baba at Prasanthi Nilayam that her guess had come true!
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